oThis Flash Eurobarometer “Future of transport” (N 312) was conducted at the request of Directorate General Mobility and Transport in the 27 EU Member States.

Initially the survey examined the current means of transport that EU citizens used to get around on a daily basis. These ranged from a car or motorbike, to public transport, cycling and walking.

The survey then looked at various transport policy issues and asked EU citizens for their views. These topics included:

 the level of support for “pay-as-you-drive” policies  people’s readiness to buy a “cleaner” vehicle as opposed to a traditional one  car users’ reasons for not using public transport  ideas for making public transport easier to use  ideas that could encourage car users to consider reducing the amount they use their car.

The survey obtained interviews predominantly through fixed-line telephone, with nationally representative samples of EU citizens (aged 15 and older) living in the 27 Member States. The target sample size in most countries was 1,000 interviews, but in Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta the sample size was 500 interviews; in total, 25,570 interviews were conducted by Gallup’s network of fieldwork organisations from October 15 to October 19, 2010. Statistical results were weighted to correct for known demographic discrepancies.

 A slim majority (53%) of EU citizens said they used a car as their main mode of transport and about one in five (22%) used public transport. “Walking” was mentioned by 13% of EU citizens and 7% selected “cycling”. The least popular choice was a motorbike, mentioned by 2%.

 Men were more likely to say that they used a car to get around on a daily basis (59% vs. 47% of women). Women more frequently said they usually walked (16% vs. 9% of men) or used public transport (25% vs. 18%).

 Almost two-thirds (64%) of rural residents said that they used a car to get about on a day-to-day basis; metropolitan residents, on the other hand, were almost as likely to mention public transport as they were to say they used a car as their main mode of transport (37% vs. 43%).

Level of support for “pay-as-you-drive” schemes

 Half of EU citizens said they would agree with existing car charges being replaced by new “pay-as-you-drive” schemes; almost a sixth (16%) of respondents agreed strongly with such a proposal. About 3 in 10 respondents disagreed with this suggestion and a fifth were unable – or unwilling – to say whether they would support “pay-as-you-drive” schemes.

 The highest level of support for “pay-as-you-drive” schemes existed in Luxembourg (71%), Italy (68%), the Netherlands (64%), Cyprus (61%) and Belgium (60%).

1 Car users were more likely to disagree with the replacement of existing car charges by “pay-as-2you-drive” schemes (37% vs. 24% of public transport users ).

Compromises to be made, in order to reduce emissions, when buying a car

 About two-thirds (68%) of EU citizens said they would compromise on a car’s speed in order to reduce emissions; 62% would be likely to compromise on the car’s size and 56% said the same about the car’s range – i.e. the distance that one could drive before needing to refuel/recharge the vehicle. EU citizens were the least likely (54%) to say that they would be willing to compromise on purchase price (i.e. they would not pay more).

 Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece and France were the countries where the largest proportions of respondents were willing to compromise on a car’s speed, size and range, when making a purchase, in order to reduce emissions. The same was true for price, in the first three countries, but the French were much less likely to be willing to buy a “clean” car if it was more expensive.

 After controlling for the different levels of “don’t know” responses, it was noted that men and the self-employed would be somewhat less likely to compromise on a car’s speed, price or range in order to be able to buy a “cleaner” car. Similarly, 15-24 year-olds would be less willing than their older counterparts to compromise on a car’s speed or range.

Reasons why car users don’t use public transport

 A large majority (71%) of car users felt that public transport was not as convenient as a car, a similar proportion (72%) said that a lack of connections was a problem, about two-thirds (64%) mentioned a low frequency of services and 54% said they did not use public transport because it

1 Those respondents who said they used a car as their main mode of transport. 2 Those respondents who said they used public transport as their main mode of transport.

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was not reliable. Half (49%) of car users said public transport was too expensive and a similar proportion (49%) stressed a lack of information about schedules. Security concerns were considered as an important reason not to use public transport by 40% of car users.

 In a majority of countries (19 out of 27), about three-quarters – or more – of car users felt that public transport was not as convenient as a car. In all Member States, at least half of car users said that they did not use public transport because of a lack of connections.

 Cyprus, Malta, Poland, Bulgaria and the UK were the countries most frequently featuring at the top end of the distributions, i.e. car users describing multiple numbers of reasons why they did not use public transport.

Opinions about a single ticket covering all means of public transport

 One in two EU citizens said they would definitely consider using public transport more frequently if they could buy a single ticket for their complete journey that covered bus, train or tram, etc. A quarter would not use public transport more frequently even if such a single ticket was available.

 Across the EU, about 3 in 10 car users compared to 11% of public transport users said they would not consider using public transport more frequently, even if a single ticket for all means of such transport was made available.

 In Spain, Cyprus and Greece, more than 6 in 10 car users said they would definitely consider using public transport more frequently if they could buy a single ticket for their whole journey.

Ideas to encourage car users to combine different modes of transport

 Roughly two-thirds (65%) of car users thought they would be more liable to combine different modes of transport if they could transfer easily from one transport mode to another; more attractive terminals would be an encouragement for just under half (47%) of car users.

 About half (52%) of car users said that better (online) information about schedules would encourage them to combine different modes of transport instead of using their car, and 38% would be more likely to do this if it would be possible to buy tickets online.

 Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Spain and Ireland tended to be the countries where the largest proportions of respondents said they would be encouraged to combine different modes of transport and reduce their use of a car if various suggestions were implemented (easy transfers, online information etc.).

A slim majority (53%) of EU citizens named a car as their main mode of transport that they used on a daily basis, followed by public transport (22%). “Walking” was mentioned by 13% of EU citizens and 7% selected “cycling” as their primary means of transport. The least popular choice was a motorbike, mentioned by 2%.

The different methods of transport can be classified into three major groups:  motorised individual transport (car and motorbike): selected as a main mode of transport for daily activities by 55% of EU citizens  non-motorised individual transport (cycling and walking) – mentioned by 20% of EU citizens  public transport – selected by 22% of EU citizens

Main mode of transportCar 53Motorbike 2Public transport 22Walking 13Cycling 7Other 1No daily / regular mobility 2D7. What is the main mode of transport that you use for your daily activities?Base: all repondents, % EU27

Cyprus stood out from the pack with 91% of respondents who said they used a car or motorbike as their main means of transport for getting around on a daily basis. In France, Ireland and Slovenia, roughly two-thirds of respondents mentioned motorised individual transport (66%-69%). In the five countries at the bottom of the distribution, however, a third or fewer respondents listed a car or motorbike as their main means of transport: 29% in Latvia and Hungary, 31% in Romania, and 33% in Slovakia and Bulgaria.

Note that virtually all respondents that listed motorised individual transport named a car as their main mode of transport. Motorbikes were used by very few respondents in most countries; the main exceptions were Greece (7% said that a motorbike was their main mode of transport), Italy (5%) and Spain (4%).

Using public transport on a daily basis was most frequently mentioned by respondents in Hungary 3(35%), Latvia (36%) and the Czech Republic (37%). This proportion dropped to 5% in Cyprus . Slovenia and the Netherlands were close to Cyprus with roughly a tenth of interviewees who said they mainly used public transport (10%-11%).

A third of respondents in Bulgaria, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and the Netherlands (32%-34%) said that they mainly got around on a daily basis by walking or cycling. In the Netherlands, interviewees who used a bicycle as their main means of transport largely outnumbered those who said that they usually walked (31% “cycling” vs. 3% “walking); in the other four countries, most respondents said that they usually walked (for example, Latvia: 25%” walking” vs. 8% “cycling”).

3 The results in Cyprus can be explained by the limited availability of public transport; the country has no rail infrastructure and the public transport system (buses) is not developed.

In the remainder of this report, two groups of respondents will be compared in regard to their opinions about the available means of transport (i.e. how they travel on a daily basis, their views on “green” travel, reasons for not using public transport, etc.).

 Those using a car as their main mode of transport – for reasons of simplicity, this group will be labelled as car users throughout this report  Those using public transport as their main mode of transport – labelled public transport users.

As discussed above, Cyprus has the largest proportion of car users (89%), but the proportion was also high in countries such as Slovenia and Ireland (both 68%). The largest shares of public transport users, on the other hand, were found in Hungary (35%), Latvia (36%) and the Czech Republic (37%).

Men were more likely than women to say that they used a car to get around on a daily basis (59% vs. 47% of women). Women, on the other hand, more frequently said that they usually walked (16% vs. 9% of men) or used public transport (25% vs. 18%).

While 61%-64% of 25-54 year-olds said a car was their main mode of transport, only half as many 15-24 year-olds gave this response (33%), as did just under half (47%) of the over 54s. The youngest respondents were more likely to use public transport to travel around (41% vs. 15%-22% across other age groups); the oldest respondents were more likely to say that they usually walked (17% vs. 10%-11% across other age groups).

Respondents with the highest level of education were most likely to use a car as their main mode of transport for daily activities (62% vs. 43% of those with the lowest level of education). Full-time students, on the other hand, were more likely to use public transport (47% vs. 18%-22% of all other educational segments) and those with the lowest level of education most frequently mentioned “walking” as their main method of getting around (19% vs. 9% of the most educated).

Almost two-thirds (64%) of rural residents said that they used a car to get around on a day-to-day basis; metropolitan residents, on the other hand, were almost as likely to mention public transport as they were to say they used a car as their main mode of transport (37% vs. 43%). Those living in towns or urban centres were more likely than their counterparts to say that they walked (16% vs. 10% in metropolitan or rural areas).

Finally, about 7 in 10 (71%) self-employed respondents said they used a car to get around, compared to 39% of non-working respondents. The latter were more likely to say that they usually walked (17% vs. 7%-12% for the other occupational groups) or travelled by public transport (29% vs. 11% of the self-employed, 16% of employees and 20% of manual workers).

For more details, see annex table 1b.

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2. Level of support for “pay-as-you-drive” schemes

The current Flash Eurobarometer examined EU citizens’ opinions about replacing existing car charges, such as initial registration cost and circulation taxes, with new charging schemes that would take into account the actual use of a car, such as the kilometres/miles driven or its use during peak hours – typically known as “pay-as-you-drive”.

Replacing existing car charges by “pay-In total, half of EU citizens said they would as-you-drive” schemesagree with existing car charges being replaced by new charging schemes that took into account a car’s actual use. Furthermore, almost a sixth 1620(16%) of respondents agreed strongly with such Agree stronglya proposal. Agree

DisagreeAbout 3 in 10 respondents disagreed with the 13idea of charging car owners via a system that Disagree stronglywould take into account a car’s actual use (18% 34DK/NAdisagreed and 13% disagreed strongly). 18

Finally, a fifth of EU citizens were unable – or Q1. To what extent do you agree with replacing existing car unwilling – to say whether they would support charges such as registration and circulation taxes with charging schemes that take into account the actual use of the car such as new charging schemes based on a car’s actual the kilometers driven, or the use of it in peak hours? use. Base: all repondents, % EU27

In five Member States, 6 in 10 – or more – respondents would agree to replace existing car charges with new schemes that took into account a car’s actual use: Luxembourg (71%), Italy (68%), the Netherlands (64%), Cyprus (61%) and Belgium (60%).

Support for such schemes was the lowest in Lithuania (21%). In this country, respondents were twice as likely to disagree with a proposal to introduce charging schemes based on the extent to which a car was used (i.e. kilometres/miles driven) than they were to agree with it (46% vs. 21%). In the Czech Republic, Estonia and Portugal, a similar number of respondents agreed or, alternatively, disagreed with this concept (the UK: 42% vs. 42%; the Czech Republic: 41% vs. 45%; Estonia: 35% vs. 37%; Portugal: 35% vs. 34%).